Patent · US Expired

Stationary aperture plate for reactive sputter deposition

US5415753A · kind A · utility

543Cited by
48References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 22, 1993
Grant dateMay 16, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 22, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J37/347
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The aperture plate of the present invention is positioned between a sputter target and a substrate to be coated with a film of target material. The substantially non-collimating plate contains a plurality of apertures which intercept a percentage of the sputter particles while allowing other sputter particles to be deposited upon the substrate to form the film. The rate of deposition achieved by the aperture plate is less than the rate of sputtering so that the target may be sputtered at a sufficiently higher rate to reduce the formation of a reactant film on the sputter target while the deposition rate is sufficiently low to allow adequate reaction between a reactive gas and sputter particles to form the desired reactant film on the substrate. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the apertures of the plate have different aspect ratios or different densities in various different regions of the plate to achieve various different deposition rates in different areas of the substrate. The aspect ratios of the apertures may be selectively varied to achieve a more uniform film thickness or a film of selectively varied thicknesses. The various aspect ratios are achieved by …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.